So excited to announce that my Sleeping Beauty retold story, WOKE, will go into wide distribution on 5.3.2021. What that means is before now it’s only been available in Kindle and KU, but starting next Monday it will be digitally be available in Kobo, Nook, Apple, and a few other digital venues, here: WOKE
The price will be 99cents everywhere to kick off the wide distribution, so this is a great time to buy it for your ereader or gift it for a Mother’s day gift to your romance reading mom!
Waking up each day is a gift….
On her 21st birthday, someone slipped a potent drug combination into socialite Aurora Brightwell’s champagne, putting her in a coma for the next ten years. It’s been a long road back, and it’s time to reclaim the life she lost and find out exactly what happened on that fateful night.
Financier Kincade Enright has his own reason for helping Aurora discover who poisoned her, but for the time being he’s keeping that – and his true identity – to himself. What he can’t keep hidden though, are his growing feelings for the one-time paparazzi darling and party-girl.
When this prince of finance joins forces with the former sleeping beauty, nothing can stop them from finding the answers they seek…or prevent the powerful emotions developing between them as they search for the truth.
Injured Parole Officer Jeremiah “Jim” Borden never expected Calista Barlow, the sassy blonde waitress he’s craved for months, to ring his doorbell. She slips into his heart—and his bed—but he’s obsessed with a gangland investigation that threatens his career and maybe even his life.
Calista doesn’t trust easily, not with a daughter to protect and the stalker who keeps calling her. After her violent ex-boyfriend returns, she finds solace in Jim’s arms.
Jim may have to forego his need for answers to protect the ready-made family he adores, but how will he and Calista escape an unseen enemy that is always one step ahead of them?
Excerpt
He hated to upset Calista all over again, but he had to know. “What were you thinking when you tried on the necklace?”
Air whizzed through her teeth. Silence stretched between them as they walked toward the diner. She sighed, her voice soft. “No offense, but I don’t know or trust you enough to let you in that much. I’ve made some mistakes—things I don’t want to talk about. Give me some time.”
Trust? He couldn’t blame her for that. If he demanded to know her secrets, he had to tear down the barbwire he’d erected around his.
No. That couldn’t happen. His life depended on his silence. Did her private thoughts and memories hinge on life and death too? His stomach twisted. Nothing bad would happen to her, not if he was around to stop it.
“What can you tell me?” Hell, only an asshole would ask something like that without opening up in return.
“The necklace reminded me of something I once wanted more than anything. Not the pearls itself, but what it represented. I couldn’t have it because I wasn’t good enough.” She pulled from his grasp and wrapped her arms around her middle.
“I’m sorry I forced you to try on the necklace. I thought you liked it. All women deserve something that makes them feel pretty.” The stench of oil filled his nose, and he sneezed. He glanced at the noisy passing cars and pulled Calista farther back along the sidewalk, away from a puddle in the road, before a vehicle splashed them. “I understand about lack of trust and the need for secrecy. I hope someday you can tell me what happened, but I do know one thing, even if you never tell me. You were good enough. You always have been and will always be.”
Her blue-green eyes widened. She traced her fingertips over his smooth jaw, leaving sparks in her wake.
“You’re so kind. I almost believe it when you say it. God, I wish I’d met you years ago, Jeremiah.”
“Why do you call me Jeremiah? Everyone else calls me Jim.”
“It feels more personal, as though you belong only to me. I may have to share Jim with the rest of the world, but Jeremiah—the strong, kind man I’ve admired over the past several months—is all mine.”
Her admission branded him like a fire poker to his skin. If he were alone, he’d beat his chest and roar. No woman had ever wanted to claim him. No one but her ever called him Jeremiah.
He coughed, clearing his throat. “Friday is only two days away, but I can’t wait that long. Let’s get in my car and go to a park, somewhere private, to talk.”
“Talk? Is that code for necking like teenagers?”
“I’m game if you are, but I don’t want to be rushed. We’ll have time for kissing and touching later.”
She pecked his cheek. “We better go before the rain starts again.”
He grasped her hand and they hurried back to the diner.
I’m working with the wonderful Maia from Silver Dagger Tours to host the release of Arresting Jeremiah. Readers, authors, and bloggers alike—we would love to have you on board for the month-long tour, beginning on October 14th.
There is also the option to review before the book goes LIVE!
Amber Daulton is the author of the romantic-suspense series Arresting Onyx and several standalone novellas. Her books are published through The Wild Rose Press, Books to Go Now, and Daulton Publishing, and are available in ebook, print on demand, audio, and foreign language formats.
She lives in North Carolina with her husband and demanding cats.
So the day has finally come and I am sososo stoked!!
WOKEreleased at midnight and I am hopeful for all those who pre-ordered it that it arrived, unscathed, and you enjoy reading it.
The book was a tiny bit of a departure for me. It’s still, technically a romance, but I’d really classify it more like a woman’s coming of age story. WOKE tells the story of Aurora Brightwell, a woman who, at her 21st birthday party, was slipped a powerful drug cocktail and lapsed into a coma for 10 years ( That’s the sleeping beauty part, hee hee). She doesn’t wait for love’s first kiss to awaken her, though. When she comes back to the land of the living all she wants to do is get her body back to working order and get on with the life that was almost robbed from her.
But….
First she has to learn how to live again, and then she has to decide what to do about the mystery surrounding her past. Enter a handsome financier, and the detective charged with finding out what happened to her all those years ago. Add in a sub plot involving Aurora’s BFF from long ago, and a reunited lovers story and the book is really so much more than a romance.
If you think this is a morose, sad and Debbie Downer book – let me assure you, it’s not. The book is filled with love, laughter, and a few characters you’ll be seeing again from me.
WOKE is exclusively offered thru Amazon, Kindle, and KU in both print and ecopy, here: WOKE
Sometime I get things right: this is one of those times. Today is the number one sale day of the year and I’ve actually got a book ON SALE!!!
If you’re looking to gift someone a holiday romance/RomCom, or even if you’re ready to take a break from all the shopping you did today and just relax with a good book, CHRISTMAS AND CANNOLIS is just #99cents at Amazon B&N and Apple books starting today.
I’m so proud of this little story of love, loss and finding happiness because it’s won a ton of awards this past year, including the 2019 NERFA Award, and it was recently announced that it was the winner of the International Digital Awards for 2019. And while I’m uber-proud that it’s done so well, I simply just love the story and want to share it with readers everywhere at this Holiday Season.
With Christmas season in full swing, baker Regina San Valentino is up to her elbows in cake batter and cookie dough. Between running her own business, filling her bursting holiday order book, and managing her crazy Italian family, she’s got no time to relax, no room for more custom cake orders, and no desire to find love. A failed marriage and a personal tragedy have convinced her she’s better off alone. Then a handsome stranger enters her bakery begging for help. Regina can’t find it in her heart to refuse him.
Connor Gilhooly is in a bind. He needs a specialty cake for an upcoming fundraiser and puts himself—and his company’s reputation—in Regina’s capable hands. What he doesn’t plan on is falling for a woman with heartbreak in her eyes or dealing with a wise-guy father and a disapproving family.
Can Regina lay her past to rest and trust the man who’s awoken her heart?
If you’re lucky, once in a lifetime you meet someone you just know you were destined to meet. Author CHERI ALLAN is one of those people for me. We met when I joined my local RWA chapter and from the first time we spoke, I was drawn to her humor, her perfect sense of self, her warmth, and her talent as a writer. Cheri’s got a new romance book out and she graciously spoke with me recently about how she came to write it. Sit back and meet my friend and ubertalented author, Cheri Allan as she tells us a bit about THE RUNAWAY CUPCAKE QUEEN.
Cheri…..
THE RUNAWAY CUPCAKE QUEEN
Just give me a minute…
You know those moments in life when you want to press the pause button just to catch your breath? That was a rhetorical question, peeps. I’ve had three straight years of pause-button-pounding moments. I don’t know an adult out there that isn’t jamming that pause button like a toddler hopefully clicking an empty Pez dispenser. As a woman firmly positioned as the squish of the sandwich generation, my desire for a moment to just catch my breath spilled over into writing THE RUNAWAY CUPCAKE QUEEN. So if there’s a lot of wine drinking and hysterical laughter, you’ll know that’s hella authentic writing right there.
Sure, I may not be an ex-beauty-queen or reality dating show contestant, but the theme of “what if I had the opportunity to run away for a little while?” is central to THE RUNAWAY CUPCAKE QUEEN. Helen Walker finds herself fleeing paparazzi and hiding in the back of a car in a dimly-lit parking lot–definitely a “just give me a minute” moment–when she suddenly gets an opportunity to escape.
Spoiler alert: she grabs that chance with both hands and her unnaturally white teeth.
What follows, though, is a road trip of discovery as Helen and Jack find what’s missing in each other and what they’d buried in themselves. I adore this book, because it was my chance to breathe and laugh again despite the craziness of this life, and I hope it’s your chance to get away for a while, too. So, grab a cupcake and maybe a glass of your finest boxed wine, and escape to your happy place.
When life and love take a detour…
Helen Walker, aka the Alabama Cupcake Queen, is poised to be the next star of TV’s most popular dating show, Happily Ever After. But after being dumped on last season’s live finale, she’s not sure she can take any more humiliation. All she ever wanted was to escape small-town Alabama, the grief of losing her mother, and an engagement to the cookie-cutter southern boy everybody loves. It all holds as much appeal as vanilla buttercream on stale cake.
When a reality TV show turns Jack Adams’ hometown into a three-ring circus, he leaps at the chance to escape for a long weekend in Pennsylvania at his best friend’s wedding. A solo drive and time away are just what he needs to regroup and get his derailed life back on track.
Everything changes when Jack discovers an ex-beauty-queen hiding in the back of his car, fleeing responsibility, paparazzi, and her future. She convinces him to take her along, but how can he figure out his life when his new passenger is determined to avoid her own? Together they discover that a road trip of detours can sometimes be the journey home.
EXCERPT:
“If we’re going to be spending the next few days together,” he said, “we’re going to have to come up with some ground rules. Number one: stop overthinking everything.Number two: stop trying to fix me. I’m not broken. And number three…”
“Yes?”
“I want it clear from the outset that if I kiss you, it won’t be because I’m trying to get back at Jenna or trying to distract you from talking. It’s because you’re hot, and I’m alive, and I want to.”
The air sucked out of her lungs with each word that passed over his lips, and she stood there, her feet glued to the pavement, winded and light-headed and incandescently hopeful.
“Oh?” she said, her body leaning toward his of its own accord.
His gaze dropped to her mouth which flooded with anticipation.
“Just so we’re clear,” he said.
“Got it.” Her mouth parted as the air grew light and fast in her lungs. “Are you gonna kiss me now?”
Cheri Allan writes kissing books about love and other shenanigans from her charming fixer-upper in rural New Hampshire. She is often distracted by social media, reality television, and a menagerie of cats and dogs. If you find her whizzing down the slopes at the nearby mountain with her family or inadvertently killing perennials in her garden, bring her coffee. She will gratefully provide the conversation and chocolate.
Her ‘Betting on Romance’ novels have been nominated for both the Carolyn Readers Choice Award and the Golden Quill. Cheri Allan romance, because life is shot, love is funny, and laughter is everything.
I love an ebook sale, don’t you?? Book 1 in my MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN SERIES, DEARLY BELOVED, is on sale now for just 99cents. If you haven’t read it yet ( and let’s talk about WHY you haven’t, heehee!) now would be a good time to because book 2, TODAY, TOMORROW, ALWAYS is releasing soon, and you want to be caught up with the shenanigans of the O’Dowd sisters and Nanny Fee.
Colleen O’Dowd manages a thriving bridal business with her sisters in Heaven, New Hampshire. After fleeing Manhattan and her cheating ex-fiancé, Colleen still believes in happily ever afters. But with a demanding business to run, her sisters to look after, and their 93-year-old grandmother to keep out of trouble, she’s worried she’ll never find Mr. Right.
Playboy Slade Harrington doesn’t believe in marriage. His father’s six weddings have taught him life is better as an unencumbered single guy. But Slade loves his little sister. He’ll do anything for her, including footing the bill for her dream wedding. He doesn’t plan on losing his heart to a smart-mouthed, gorgeous wedding planner, though.
When her ex-fiancé comes back into the picture, Colleen must choose between Mr. Right and Mr. Right Now.
I stared at him for a moment, mulling over how I wanted to ask him what I’d been dying to ask since we’d been in my office.
Finally, because there was no other way to get around it but bluntly, I said, “I feel like we need to discuss your father. Come to a decision about where he fits in the wedding.”
When the warmth in his expression shifted to ice, a weaker-willed person might have stopped there. Since I’m not weak and my parents have always told me I have a real problem with knowing when to quit, I pushed on. “It seems to me as if Isabella wants him to be included. Whether in a father-of-the-bride role, or simply as a guest, I really do think she’d like him to attend, but, for whatever reason, she’s reluctant to press you on it.”
Did I say ice? What’s colder than ice? Because whatever it is, that was the expression floating in Slade’s eyes right then as he glared at me.
Warning bells blared in my head, but that thing about me not knowing when to quit? Yeah, it’s real.
“I think Isabella’s afraid of upsetting you if she tells you how she feels or asks your permission. She loves you so much and respects your opinion.”
“You don’t know anything about my sister. Or me.” He lowered his hands from his hips, kept them fisted at his sides. “Or our relationship with our father.”
“True, but I get the sense—”
He barreled over me as if I hadn’t said a word.
“You’ve been hired to do a job, Miss O’Dowd. I suggest you do it and keep your thoughts about my family to yourself. You’re a wedding planner, not a family counselor.” His voice dropped a level, deepening as it became softer. The cadence became clipped, the tone more…lethal.
If this was the way he acted in business, it was a wonder he hadn’t been convicted of corporate homicide yet.
“Look, I’m not asking simply to be nosy,” I said, my voice rising in opposition to his. “I really do have to plan all this out. There’s still the rehearsal and the dinner after it left to deal with. Then there’s the reception seating. Plus, if he is included, I’ll need to make sure he has a room, a tuxedo, and find out if he’s bringing a guest.”
“What aren’t you understanding about this, Miss O’Dowd?” Slade asked, taking a step toward me. If he’d thought to intimidate me with his height, he’d miscalculated. Retreat wasn’t a word in my lexicon. I simply lifted my chin and stared right back at him.
“I understand a lot more than you think, Mr. Harrington. About all sorts of things. Arrogant and pigheaded men included.”
When he continued to stand like a plank of wood in front of me, his mouth turning down and creasing the sides of his jaw, I knew—knew—I should stop.
But…
Take advantage of the sale price, peeps!!! And soon I’ll have something to tell you all about Book 2, oldest sister, Cathy’s, story)
So, this is the first new blog piece of mine since the start of my Goddess Fish tour in October. An entire month of blog posts that were written a month before the tour. Can I just tell you how exhausted I was after that?!!
Lots has happened lately that I haven’t had a chance to talk about. I was at the Fall In Love with New England conference a few weeks ago; I had another book signing for my newest release A SHOT AT LOVE from Lyrical Shine Books; I’m currently gearing up for NaNoWriMo for next month. I’ve been entering oodles of writing contests. Just lots of stuff to keep me busy and involved.
I’ve been storing a few topics in the back of my mind and I’ll be releasing them the next few weeks before NaNo, so make sure you check back here or follow my tweets and social media posts. For now, I’ve gotta go work on my new bridal series….more to come about that in the future.
BUT…. the most important thing right now is that I am a finalist in the NH State Library book Notes. Here is the link. A KISS UNDER THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS is a finalist so if you have a moment and feel the need, I would REALLY appreciate your vote.Thanks in advance!
If you need to find me I can usually be spotted here: Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me//Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me// Triber// BookBub
It’s written as the last line of every fairy tale; it has its own acronym – HEA – in the romance writing world, and every English speaking girl and boy has heard it when read a bedtime story.
But what does it really mean? Does HEA happen and then the hero and the heroine NEVER go through another bad moment for the rest of their lives? They live on the wings of their love for evermore, never to have a bad day or a moment that’s not filled with undying bliss?
Does it mean never to grow old and complacent with one another? Never take the other for granted, or become so dependent upon the other that you lose you own identity?
Does the happily ever after take into account how the hero and heroine’s lives are changed forever when they have kids? No longer allowed to sleep through the night because of feeding schedules, diaper changes, midnight upset tummies and bathroom accidents? Not to mention all the childhood illnesses and traumas that come hand in hand with child rearing. And don’t get me started on the teen years.
Does the HEA provide for lost jobs, school tuition bills, mortgages and braces? Aging parents and no health insurance?
I think for me, as a romance reader and writer, the HEA that comes at the end of the story, is not the end of the story, but the beginning of two lives filled with all of the above.
And a lot more.
The easiest way to explain myself is to simply refer to my own life.
When I found my HEA and married the love of my life, we moved away, right away. We were now geographically far from family, friends, secure jobs and the lives we’d made for ourselves where we’d been. Skype hadn’t been invented, and there was no such thing as a cell or mobile phone yet.
No, this wasn’t the Stone Age, just the 80’s.
We were entirely dependent on the two us, alone. Weekly phone calls to family were the norm, but the friends began to wax and wane, too involved in their own lives to devote much time to catching up.
To say I was lonely in the beginning would be to underscore the situation. Hubby was at work all day, while I was looking actively for employment, not an easy feat in a small, rural upper mid-west town.
Many things could have affected our relationship at that time. The isolation, loneliness, dependency on just the other for emotional, spiritual, and varied kinds of support, could have led to a negative outcome for our marriage. The saying “familiarity breeds contempt” has some backbone to it.
But it didn’t because we had each other and knew we only had each other. I’ve always thought that being taken away from family, friends and familiarity could either make or break a young marriage.
It made mine. Totally.
When you have just one person – a person you love without end – in your corner all the way, all day and every day, your HEA can’t help but come true, despite the outside influences that topple into your lives on a continual basis.
You’re forced to talk to one another, lean on the other, seek advice from the other and just plain interact with the other. You must support one another in any way, and every way, possible. In its simplest form, you’ve only got one another. From this, bonds can be tightly formed.
Everlasting bonds. Happily Ever After bonds.
So, when you come to the last page of that romance novel, and the hero and heroine have declared their love and desire to be together for eternity, believe it. Because those kinds of HEA’s do come true. Every day.
And for ordinary people, too, not just fictional characters.
Peggy Jaeger, Author 